Episode 203: Strikeouts and Defense/Shortest Pitching Careers/Novelty All-Star Games/World Series of Worst/Rooting Against No-Hitters
Date May 15, 2013 Summary Ben and Sam discuss listener emails about whether rising strikeout rates make defense less valuable, whether the worst teams should face off at the end of the year, and more. Topics * Strikeout rate and defense * MLB careers with no outs recorded * All-Star game structure * Hitting streaks * Worst team series hypothetical * Rooting against perfect games and no-hitters Intro Episode outtake sound clip Email Questions * Timothy: "A lot has been made of the high strikeout rates over the last few seasons. Does a high strikeout rate negatively impact the value of defense, positively impact, or have none at all? How large will strikeout rates have to be to impact defensive stats?" * Nicholas: "Has any pitcher made his major league debut and only recorded one out or no outs? I remember Steve Garrison in 2011 for the Yankees recorded two outs and I doubt he will come back to the majors. I assume somebody has gotten fewer, but who?" * Daniel (Pittsburgh, PA): "Having just listened to you wonder about what would make for an interesting all-star game and what would have happened if baseball went the novelty route, I found myself wishing the all-star game consisted of pitchers hitting and playing the field and position players pitching. I feel like Chris Davis and Wilson Valdez would be the starting pitchers, Yovani Gallardo would bat cleanup, etc." * Daniel (Pittsburgh, PA): "Am I the only one who feels strange when I hear sports new people hyping David Ortiz's late game double on Monday night to extend his hitting streak to 26 games. Do you think there's a point where baseball people would say, 'No, that's too many missed games between at-bats for us to call this consecutive...trails off" * Brian: "What do you think of a rule change where the worst team in each league would have to play a three game series at the end of the season on World Series travel days? The day before the world series started they would play the first game and then play on subsequent travel days. Just as the second wild creates incentive for more marginal teams to compete, so this rule would create a more interesting race to the bottom." * Kerry: "At what point do we start to root against perfect games and no hitters? This season I have already reached that point. What made them fun was the rarity, but after last year that seems to have gone away. I'm sure that after a couple years without these accomplishments I will return to rooting for them again." Notes * Per team pitching staff, there were 934 fewer batted balls (based on similar number of innings) on average last season than in 1980. * There are 21 players who have pitched in MLB but never retired a batter. * Larry Yount entered a game in 1971 but didn't face a batter. He hurt himself warming up in his MLB debut and never played again. * Sam's research in response to Nicholas' question is an early precursor to the type of question that would lead to the play index segments. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 203: Strikeouts and Defense/Shortest Pitching Careers/Novelty All-Star Games/World Series of Worst/Rooting Against No-Hitters Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes